I become increasingly entertained with the concept of Johnny Sutton’s inevitable demise by his own hand. While I think one might be a tad optimistic in believing Sutton and his cabal of fellows and subordinates in the Western District of Texas, where he and they have been doing nothing but regurgitating, practically ad infinitum, the same, tired talking-points and “myths” (many proven lies, as if none were aware) concerning the Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean border shooting of illegal alien drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, could garner any actual jail time resulting from their blatantly hostile and dishonest prosecution of the two former border agents.

I do hold credence in the concept of disbarment hearings for Sutton and company with the preferable outcome actually resulting in banishment from the legal profession altogether. If one has no respect for his or her chosen profession, one should not be engaged in practicing that profession. If that profession involves the professional, through various corrupt and deceptive practices, remanding individuals in a federal penitentiary for 11 and 12 years, then that person should be forcibly removed from that profession. Of course, I would not be sad to see Sutton face more severe punishment.

Now comes word from the private investigator hired by Ramos to locate the illegal drug smuggler, Davila. Apparently Sutton and his crack team of government lawyers and investigators claim they could not locate Davila after the border shooting incident. You might say to yourself, “But they’re the government, they’re super efficient with this sort of thing. If they couldn’t find him, then no one could.” Don’t say that. Okay? It only took one private investigator, Freddie Bonilla, a relatively brief amount of time to ferret out the drug smuggling criminal.

If Sutton is not an efficient tool of the United States government, then he’s either a shill for George W. Bush and the president’s SPP plans, or he’s just a tool. Actually, I’d say Sutton is both.

Marijuana found in the back of the van being used by Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila

A private investigator who was hired by former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos during his trial on allegations he fired at a fleeing drug smuggler says he doesn’t think prosecutors made any significant effort to find the smuggler, later identified as Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila.

Freddie Bonilla told WND that his investigation of the Feb. 17, 2005, incident was straight-forward, and led him quickly to Aldrete-Davila’s identity, and he believes the federal government should have been able to do the same thing.

Bonilla, who was a homicide investigator with the El Paso Police Department and later the chief of detectives for the El Paso Sheriff’s Department, also has served for several decades as a private investigator.

In preparing for the defense of Ramos, who along with Jose Compean was accused of shooting at Aldrete-Davila when Aldrete-Davila’s van – loaded with drugs – was trapped by federal officers and he fled on foot back to Mexico, Bonilla said he started by looking at the van that Aldrete-Davila abandoned at the scene.

“Why didn’t the Drug Enforcement Administration track down the van to find out who the owner was?” Bonilla asked WND. “That van was physical evidence of the crime that was never seriously investigated. Yet, prosecutor [U.S. Attorney] Johnny Sutton has been all over the national media saying there was no physical evidence he could have used to prosecute Aldrete-Davila. What about the van?”

The two former federal agents now are serving prison terms of 11 and 12 years on their convictions for that incident, even though Aldrete-Davila never was charged with the drug case – or a subsequent drug smuggling incident – and in fact was given immunity to testify against the federal border agents.

At the same time, WND reported that the van was towed to the El Paso sheriff’s compound where it sat for approximately one month before the U.S. Border Patrol Evidence Team entered the compound, dusted the vehicle, and found 11 fingerprints, only three of which were duplicates.

But there’s no indication the DEA or Department of Homeland Security investigators ever examined the vehicle or the fingerprints for evidence that might have led to Aldrete-Davila.

Bonilla said he quickly tracked the vehicle to Jesus Beltran, an El Paso self-employed construction worker who buys and sells used cars to supplement his income. Then Beltran examined photos of the van provided by Bonilla, as well as wrecking company towing records, and identified it as one he purchased in 2004 from an El Paso wrecking lot.

He registered it under his name and kept it for five months, then sold it to a friend in Juarez, Mexico, for $1,300. The Texas plates on the car at the time of the Feb. 17, 2005, drug incident were registered to Beltran.

“If I could find the car and how it got down to Mexico,” Bonilla said, “then why couldn’t the DEA or the DHS have tracked down the car in the attempt to find out who the drug smuggler was? Right there I found out far more than anybody ever investigated for the Border Patrol.”

Even after Davila came forth on March 4, 2005, with the Mexican Consulate demanding the prosecution of the Border Patrol agents who shot him, Bonilla felt DEA and DHS should have investigated the van.

“If you tracked down Beltran’s friend in Juarez,” Bonilla argued to WND, “dedicated law enforcement in the U.S. might have uncovered the drug smuggling ring that hired Davila to run that load across the border.”

Bonilla provided WND with photos of the drug van at the levee, where Davila ran the two front wheels over the edge before he abandoned the vehicle in the attempt to escape on foot. Bonilla also provided photos of the 743 pounds of marijuana discovered in the van at the scene of the incident.

Another issue Bonilla raised was the cell phone found in the van after Aldrete-Davila fled. “There were a total of 9 Border Patrol officers on the scene Feb. 17, 2005, plus two supervisors. Why is it that the DEA or DHS never investigated the cell phone Davila left behind? That cell phone should have had valuable numbers in the memory that could have led to Davila or the drug syndicate he worked for.”

The telephone became a subject of questioning at the trial for Ramos and Compean, when Ramos defense attorney Mary Stillinger asked the smuggler about it, and he said he got it from drug dealers in Mexico who hired him to walk across the border, find the marijuana-loaded van with a key in the ignition and drive it away.

But there was a discrepancy between his testimony and the evidence observed by investigators:

Stillinger: The phone that was in the van, was that your telephone, or was that a telephone that was given to you for the purpose of helping you to do this transaction? Aldrete-Davila: Yeah, they gave it to me when I got on the van. When they sent me there, they gave it to me. I didn’t have a telephone.

Stillinger: Okay. And they gave you the phone charger with it?

Aldrete-Davila: No, just the telephone.

Stillinger: Okay. So the phone charger – there was a phone charger in the van, wasn’t there?

Aldrete-Davila: I don’t know. They just gave me the telephone. I don’t know if there was a charger or not.

Aldrete-Davila further testified that the phone was Nextel and that the drug users used the radio feature, not the telephone, to communicate. He also testified that he did not plug the phone into a charger.

“The whole thing with the cell phone was ridiculous,” Bonilla told WND. “That cell phone should have been the first thing DEA or DHS should have been investigated to find Davila or his drug smuggling partners.”

“Besides, Davila was lying about everything,” Bonilla told WND. “He never explained how that white van on the other side of the Rio Grande knew to be there waiting for him when he ran away. Did he call his buddies when he was evading the Border Patrol hot pursuit? How come DEA or DHS didn’t look into whether Davila called anybody when he was running away?”

He also offered an explanation for why Compean and Border Patrol Agent Arturo Vasquez picked up the spent shell casings expended when Compean and Ramos fired at the fleeing smuggler.

“I was a firearms trainer in the Marine Corps,” Bonilla said, “and from the first day at the firing range through 26 years in law enforcement, it was hammered into my head that the first command after you finish shooting is to load and holster your weapon, and the second command is always, to pick up your brass or shell casings.”

He also suggested that Border Patrol supervisor Jonathan Richards, who was also on the scene in 2005, should have known there had been trouble. “Richards was the main supervisor at the scene and he was made aware there had been shooting, despite what he testified at trial,” Bonilla insisted. “Richards saw Agent Compean covered with dirt and bleeding from the face. But he convinced Compean that if Compean reported the matter, that it would require a lot of paper work, and then having to go to the F.B.I.”

That would corroborate an earlier report when WND examined the transcript of a May 15, 2005 job suspension hearing Compean had with El Paso Border Patrol Sector Chief Louis Barker, in which Compean said Richards discouraged him from filing written reports after the incident with Davila.

Besides the Ramos-Compean case, there also has been an uproar over the conviction of Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez, who fired his weapon at a van loaded with illegal aliens he thought were trying to run him down. He was convicted for that and he’s scheduled for sentencing later this month.

Yet another that already has been resolved, at the expense of a former federal agent, involves David Sipe, who was accused of improperly hitting a coyote [someone who smuggles illegal aliens into the U.S.] while he was resisting arrest with a flashlight. He was convicted and sent to prison before an appellate court overturned his conviction, and he was acquitted during a re-trial in January.

However, Sipe lost both his career and marriage because of the charges against him.

The below news article by Daily Bulletin staff writer, Sara A. Carter confirms what most of us have suspected for a very long time: Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila did smuggle an additional load of drugs into the country after U.S. Attorney, Johnny Sutton and his office had already given Davila immunity from prosecution provided he would testify against former border patrol agents, and current political prisoners, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. This despite the fact Sutton himself has repeatedly denied allegations Davila had ever been known to sneak another van load of drugs into the country after he was granted immunity and after Sutton’s office, in the name of U.S. citizens everywhere (natural born and legal immigrant) had given Davila an immigration card that freely allowed the illegal alien drug smuggler unfettered access between Mexico and the United States.

From the article…

Sutton said in a Jan. 17 “Myths vs. Reality” press release that “Aldrete has not been subsequently arrested for drug smuggling. Our office is in the business of prosecuting drug traffickers and alien smugglers … If we had a provable case against Aldrete, we would prosecute him.”

Sutton’s assertion that Aldrete-Davila has not been arrested is accurate. However, an Oct. 25, 2005, DEA report shows that DEA investigators believed they had sufficient evidence to indict Aldrete-Davila, but their requests to do so were denied by prosecutors.

Why? Obviously, so Sutton, Kanof, et. al. could proceed with their mendacious litigation against two border patrol agents who are spending 11 and 12 years in jail for simply doing their jobs. In their bloodlust, the prosecution was more concerned with destroying two American citizens than prosecuting a known drug smuggler from the Mexican drug cartels; a drug smuggler who was painted by Sutton’s office as a poor, pathetic schmuck who simply was trying to sell a few drugs in order to help his ailing mother in Mexico.

This offers more hope for Ramos and Compean. Hope? Hope is indicative of maybe/possibly reasoning. This offers more concrete evidence that Ramos and Compean will be exonerated and released sooner rather than later. If the information about Davila was with held from the defense, which is appears to have been, then Sutton will be looking at even more legal trouble for himself and his staff, including Debra Kanof.

Did Ramos and Compean make mistakes? Of course. Do they deserve the sentences that were handed down to them–11 and 12 years? Of course not, and anyone who does believe the two former agents received an appropriate judgment can only be in favor of the U.S. becoming a totalitarian police state with President Bush as its despot. Hyperbole? Possibly.

So, while Sutton continues to lie by parsing his verbiage, dodging facts while disseminating half-truths in order to avoid the inevitable investigation that will hopefully sweep through him and his office, Ramos and Compean continue to languish in prison, products of a west Texas judicial system in arrears and sorely in need of a good enema.

The Mexican national shot by two Border Patrol agents in a drug-related incident in February 2005 brought a second van load of drugs into the U.S. while he waited to testify against the agents, according to Drug Enforcement Administration reports obtained by the Daily Bulletin.

Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila – who was given immunity by U.S. prosecutors in exchange for testifying against former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean – is the focus of a November 2005 DEA report that identifies him as the person responsible for stashing more than 750 pounds of marijuana in a van parked at a house in Clint, Texas, in October of that year.

“(A witness) stated that Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila was the individual that dropped off the 1990 Chevy Astro van,” according to the DEA document. “This van contained approximately 6 bundles of marijuana.”

DEA interviews with the Clint house’s owner, Cipriano Ortiz-Hernandez, led to Ortiz-Hernandez’s brother, Jose Ortiz, who told DEA agents that Aldrete-Davila had moved the narcotics from Juarez to El Paso, adding that the van Aldrete-Davila was driving needed work, so he referred him to his mechanic brother, Cipriano.”Jose Ortiz thought for a minute, and then stated that we should know Davila’s identity because he is the person who was shot by Border Patrol agents six months ago,” the report states.

Cipriano Ortiz-Hernandez also identified Aldrete-Davila as the van’s driver after seeing a photo array, according to the DEA documents.

Aldrete-Davila was shot in the buttocks after fleeing a van filled with marijuana and running away from Border Patrol agents in a February 2005 incident near Fabens, Texas, about seven miles from Clint.

Ramos and Compean are now serving 11 and 12 years, respectively, in federal prison after being convicted in March 2006 of assault with a deadly weapon, attempting to cover up their actions, and violating Aldrete-Davila’s civil rights.

Both men testified that they thought Aldrete had a gun in his hand while they were chasing him, and feared for their lives when they fired on him.

Aldrete-Davila was given immunity to testify against the agents, along with a special border crossing pass and free medical treatment at a U.S. Army medical center.

Western District of Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office prosecuted Ramos and Compean, has denied numerous times that Aldrete-Davila brought a second load of narcotics into the United States after being granted immunity.

Sutton said in a Jan. 17 “Myths vs. Reality” press release that “Aldrete has not been subsequently arrested for drug smuggling. Our office is in the business of prosecuting drug traffickers and alien smugglers … If we had a provable case against Aldrete, we would prosecute him.”

Sutton’s assertion that Aldrete-Davila has not been arrested is accurate. However, an Oct. 25, 2005, DEA report shows that DEA investigators believed they had sufficient evidence to indict Aldrete-Davila, but their requests to do so were denied by prosecutors.

According to a high-level source close to the investigation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Gregory was notified in October 2005 that Aldrete-Davila was being investigated by the DEA and that the agency had new evidence against him.

Gregory dismissed the warning, the source said.

Shana Jones, special assistant to Sutton, said she could not comment on Gregory’s meeting with the DEA, or on the DEA documents.

“We have posted the transcript of the (agents’) trial,” Jones said. “We are not going to comment about matters that are under seal or are ongoing investigations.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., received a phone call this morning from the Justice Department urging him not to release Drug Enforcement Agency investigative reports that confirm a previous WND story presenting evidence the drug smuggler given immunity to testify against border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was involved in a second smuggling incident.

Rohrabacher’s spokeswoman, Tara Setmayer, told WND the Justice Department “reminded us not to disclose any documents that might compromise an on-going investigation.

But Setmayer said Rohrabacher’s office did not have any information about current DEA or Department of Homeland Security investigations.

She said the purpose of a press conference scheduled for this afternoon “is to get to the bottom of what prosecutor U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton knew about (drug smuggler Osbaldo) Aldrete-Davila and to let the public know that we have seen government investigative reports that document a second October 2005 drug incident that was not released to the jury.”

Asked whether she thought the Justice Department’s phone call was an attempt to protect Sutton, Setmayer said: “I’m not willing to make that statement at this time.”

She said Rohrabacher will call for hearings today.

“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Setmayer said. “We need congressional hearings so we can get all the facts before the American people.

As WND reported, Rohrabacher is calling for a new trial, charging the new documents show Sutton “knowingly presented a false picture of the drug smuggler in order to justify his ruthless prosecution of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean.”

Rohrabacher’s press conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Eastern time in the House TV Gallery, H-321, in Washington.

As the Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean fiasco gains momentum with those who support the two incarcerated agents specifically, the border patrol generally, and the probe into questionable conduct by U.S. Attorney, Johnny Sutton and company, so too does this story gain detractors–detractors who generally have no more than a broad understanding of the incident, the trial, and the recent firestorm of outrage from the public and a growing number of congressmen and senators who are understandably demanding an investigation of Sutton, his office, and the DHS among others for their dubious ethics in regards to the apparent railroading of Ramos and Compean.

So the [right] wingnuts have taken to calling Johnny Sutton an “agent of the Mexican government,” demanded that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez step into the case and generally made a big stink on right-wing talk radio, blogs and on their fake “news” sites like Townhall and WorldNetDaily. It’s all gotten conflated with the rank-and-file rebellion against the Republican Party over immigration. To many on the right, the two dirty cops are “illegal immigration heroes.”[bold emphasis]

Whoa..everyone here needs to chill out. First, shooting someone in the back is not a “heroic” action. I don’t know who taught you right from wrong, but you need to do some serious soul searching if you thing this is alright.

First, the comment by Anonymous is indicative of those who know little about the circumstances of the case. Compean claimed the illegal alien drug runner had a shiny object in his hand and it appeared as if the fugitive was turning to use it. Making the assumption that it was a gun, you simply cannot tell agent Compean that the suspect did not have a gun. If he saw what he thought was a gun, Compean has the right to defend himself. This is basic police policy. What would normal human being do in a similar situation?

As for both comments above, I call them heroes because they do something most of us don’t have the balls to do, and they do it every day. They protect us with their own lives on the line, regardless of their imperfections–the same imperfections many of us have. The same can be said of firemen, marines, policemen, etc. I am a television producer. I am not a hero. Ramos and Compean are heroes.

Holland’s comments are rife with liberal political partisanship when this is simply a matter of justice–left and right should make no difference. Of course, I would be a hypocrite if I said I don’t include opinion in my writing (for crying out loud, this is a blog after all), but Holland even ridicules news outlets for offering information that doesn’t line up with his liberal leanings. The Onion is a “fake” news site. World Net Daily is not. Whether you are uncomfortable with the level of bias World Net Daily delivers, dubbing it fake is odd. Alternet.com takes a similar approach, but I would not pin them as “fake” because of the political bias. Their leading headline, Bush is Screwing Up the War on Terror I couldn’t agree with more. Does this make me a liberal? No (though some neo-cons would strongly disagree.) Does reading World Net Daily make me conservative? No. I never agree with every story a news outlet pushes on any website I visit or any publication I read. To do so would be mindless.

Personally I visit several news sites, conservative and liberal, and while I prefer to think of myself as a moderate, I often find myself leaning toward, what to me is, the more stable and thoughtful stance, and that generally leans to the right.

…December 12, the holiday celebrating the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe. What materialized in front of the Swift gates that morning was more like a vision of hell. Shortly after 7 am a half-dozen buses rolled up with a small fleet of government vans, which unloaded dozens of heavily armed federal agents backed by riot-clad local police. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents sealed off all entrances and exits and formed a perimeter around the factory. Then others barged inside and started rounding up the whole workforce.

Some of the frightened workers jumped into cattle pens; others hid behind machinery or in closets. Those who tried to run were wrestled to the ground. Sworn statements by some workers allege that the ICE agents used chemical sprays to subdue those who didn’t understand the orders barked at them in English. The plant’s entire workforce was herded into the cafeteria and separated into two groups: those who claimed to be US citizens or legal residents and those who didn’t.

Talk about appeals to emotion. The entire article is much like this–one big hyperbolic mess with absolutely no respect for American citizens, native born or immigrant. Vision of hell? A fleet of government vans? They barged inside? What constitutes a vision of hell? I’ve never been there (and hope I never pay a visit), so why the drama? I’m assuming that a fleet constitutes at least two vehicles, but the apparent tone conveyed here is to insinuate a large group of military vehicles filled with nasty-bad government agents, who in reality are simply doing their jobs, much like Ramos and Compean did. And they barged into a facility that was breaking the law by employing illegal immigrants, many of whom were shown to be guilty of identity theft which obviously illustrates why many of the workers initially attempted to hide and flee.

Curiously, pro-illegal immigrant activists, many of whom are liberals, simply don’t understand that they’re in the same boat with President Bush on this issue. You guys actually agree on something–Bush wants a low-paid, easily exploitable workforce and so do you. For many other reasons as well, I do not want to exploit poor illegal aliens. I desire an improved immigration system that starts with sharpened enforcement at the border.

More from The Nation article…

“By saying these raids were about identity theft, ICE and the Bush Administration suddenly changed the rules of the game,” says Mark Grey, director of the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration. By highlighting the identity-theft angle, DHS officials have cast into a sinister light a common practice, at worst a victimless crime.

Hyperbole is one thing. Fabrication is another. Identity theft is never victimless, and it’s a crime that’s growing as more illegals flow into the country unfettered due to our porous border. I’ve heard illegal immigration apologists attempt to explain it away as an inevitability (and that seems to excuse it for them) but I’ve never heard or read anyone be so bold as to state identity theft is victimless. Tell that Linda Trevino and Steve Millet and the many thousands more victims of illegal immigrants who stole identity information of legal residents.

More from The Nation story…

…says an indignant Robert McCormick, a Greeley immigration attorney representing about sixteen of the workers. “This is indeed a declaration of war on the immigrant community. This is about Republicans trying to appease their core bloc of supporters. Yeah, some people got a big kick out of this. But I think most Americans were revolted by it. Here in town, a lot of people have said they want no part of it. And others, I assure you, are going to wind up being very ashamed of it.”

As someone who supports stronger borders and LEGAL immigration I find particularly infuriating how often illegal immigration activists love to leave out the word illegal when discussing the subject of illegal immigration. I am wholly against illegal immigration. I am completely in support of legal immigration. As cheesy as this sounds, I am filled with joy (yes, filled with joy) when ever I hear “The American Dream” story, particularly centered around immigrants–immigrants who came to this country with little to nothing, and managed great successes for themselves. Whether they became CEO of a corporation, or they simply bought a home in the Midwest, I am always pleased when immigrants successfully weave themselves into the fabric of our society.

Conversely, it saddens me when illegals enter the country and fail to even attempt at integration. This post from last summer clearly demonstrates this problem. As I state in that piece (accompanied with the L.A. Times article, 6+1=1 Tenuous Existence), immigrant assimilation is the best means to achieve success in a foreign society.

From the mentioned post…

[L.A. Times – Neither Magdaleno nor her husband speaks English, though she has been in the United States 22 years and he 28. Even her teenage daughters speak mostly Spanish; their English vocabulary is limited.

Jesus Christ! Twenty-two and 28 years and they still haven’t learned English? None?! What’s even more frightening is the fact that their teenage children barely speak English as well. This is very sad. To me, it speaks volumes on Mexican familial culture–how improving oneself is simply sneaking across the border and continuing a genealogy that one was trying to escape in the first place.]

As I’ve said before, I don’t blame poor Mexicans (or Chinese, or Indians, etc.) their need to come to this country for a better life. I blame this presidency and his administration for their failures to secure our border. When illegals enter the country, bypassing the proper channels to become legal residents, they will almost always fail to integrate. This often translates into large, poor illegal immigrant ghettos that do nothing to support the economy while serving as ethnocentric pools of resentment and anger towards the community, the city, and the country where in they now reside.

Also from commenter, Anonymous…

It is also a ridiculous statement to say that immigrants are “rotting” this country. If immigrants did not “rot” America for the first 300 years, how are they doing it now? The crime, gangs, and drugs would be here whether these people came or not. Crime was an issue long before immigration.

I may have been participating in dramatic license, but it is true, the more unrestricted illegal weight bears down on this country, or any country for that matter (France anyone?), the more damaged it becomes–more rotten. Here are some interesting statistics from the L.A. Times, an infamously pro-illegal immigration, liberal publication…

– 40 percent of all workers are working for cash and not paying taxes. Why would they want to be legal and pay taxes? They would be able to start bringing the rest of their families to the USA.

– 75 percent of people on L.A.’s most-wanted list are illegal aliens.

– Over two-thirds of all births are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by the taxpayers.

[Anonymous] The crime, gangs, and drugs would be here whether these people came or not. Crime was an issue long before immigration.

– The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegals from south of the border.[Hecubus] Additionally, if our border was more secure, we would be dealing with fewer drug and crime problems. Would we still have crime and drugs? Of course, but it would be diminished.

– Nearly 60 percent of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

– 29 percent of inmates in the federal prisons are illegal aliens.

– The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a negative.

– They also send between about $15 billion back to Mexico to assist their families and prop up the corrupt Mexican government that keeps most of its citizens in poverty.

– It cost Los Angeles $276 million in welfare costs for 100,000 children of illegal aliens.

[Anonymous] And please don’t get indignant and act like you don’t reap the benefits of undocumented workers. You like your oranges cheap. All of your products that are “Made in America” have most likely gone through the hands of undocumented workers at some point. Deep down you know that these people are benefitting you.

– Less than 2 percent of illegals are picking crops but 29 percent are on welfare.

Add to that California alone spent nearly $8 billion dollars in 2004 to educate illegal alien children and children of illegals. Also, the rate at which emergency rooms in California are closing due to EMTALA and illegal aliens not paying E.R. bills is astonishing. Who ends up footing the bill for these unpaid costs? American citizens.

[Anonymous] I am Mexican, and I don’t believe I have any diseases that are foreign to this country. I don’t believe that I have ever brought any foreign diseases back to the U.S. from my travels. You need to get the facts straight.

Also, many diseases are on the rise due to illegal immigration. I’m not saying you’re disease ridden, Anonymous. I’m simply pointing out facts that many illegals who do not go through proper immigration channels are carriers of communicable diseases. Some illnesses thought to have been nearly squashed are on the rise again because of this–plague, dengue fever, and polio. Even leprosy has seen an alarming rise in regularity because of illegal immigrants.

Anyway, there is a horrible misconception in this country right now, based mostly on what people hear rather than on what they know, that illegal immigrants perform jobs that Americans won’t do (though of late, this has been altered by illegal immigrant activists to “jobs Americans are too qualified for” since the condescending catch-phrase “jobs Americans wont do” was failing miserably.) This is patently false, but it’s been regurgitated over and over so much that people simply accept it. (There was an incident recently in the post-Katrina south where African Americans looking for work at a specific job site were told to go home because “the Mexicans” were coming to work for less pay.)

For those of us living in border states, particularly southern California, keep in mind that Latino workers makes up only 5% the total workforce in the United States, and they don’t make up a majority of the workforce in any occupation in America–yes, not even car washing, gardening, or house cleaning.

Much of the problem lies with employers, such as Swift Co. from The Nation article mentioned above, who hire illegals for a lower wage than actual American citizens are willing to take (well below minimum.) It’s about a fair wage. Pay American citizens a fair wage and they will do those jobs that so many are claiming only illegals will do because we, as American citizens, are too good to get our hands dirty. In fact, if there weren’t as many illegals doing “jobs Americans won’t do” then Americans would be able to fill those jobs, probably promoting a general increase in wages for many Americans altogether.

American citizens are doing jobs throughout the country that illegal immigrant activists say they won’t do. Americans are making livings and getting paid fair wages gardening, house cleaning, building homes, and working at McDonalds. Often views are skewed by where people live (border states) and what they see in the news.

Many legal immigrants (Latino and otherwise) find great offense to the idea of illegals getting any sort of benefits, let alone amnesty, by being in the country without having gone through the proper channels. Most immigrants have waited with great patience, going through those proper channels in order to become American citizens. The general disdain and disrespect pro-illegal immigration protestors and activists have towards the country that they are trying to win favor from is galling.

What needs to happen? Mexico needs to step up to the plate and provide for its citizens, and the United States needs to stop paying their bills without any help from Mexico. Mexico relies on the fact that its citizens emigrate to the US. It even took out full page ads in American newspapers supporting Bush’s guest worker program! It’s what keeps the rich wealthy, and the poor even poorer. The corruptness of the Mexican government is abhorrent, and if it were governed with any sense of responsibility (doubtful there will be any change even with the new leadership), the situation would probably be different, especially considering Mexico is rich in natural resources. What the illegal immigrant demonstrators and activists should do is use that same determination to protest their own government in Mexico to incite change instead of alienating the American audience it’s trying to win over.

Ultimately this is not a racist issue, at least for me. This is about providing American citizens a fair shot and keeping our economy running smoothly. Simply, if you pay people more money, they put more money back into the economy. If you pay them less, they put less back in, which weakens the economy. Add to that, most illegal immigrants send much of the money they make back to their families in Mexico and you can see how much of problem this will ultimately become (and already is.)

Sen. Feinstein’s office told WND scheduling difficulties were responsible for the cancellation of the Feb. 27 hearing and her office anticipates that a new hearing date will be set soon. A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was disappointed to hear of the postponement, noting the senator’s staff had done extensive work in preparation. As WND reported, Feinstein received permission from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to examine the cases.

The Bush administration has drawn strong criticism from Republican congressmen angry about its handling of a case in which two border agents were given 11- and 12-year sentences after granting a drug smuggler immunity to testify against them.

“I strongly believe that the sentences in this case are too extreme, given the criminal nature of the defendant and his possession of large quantities of drugs,” Feinstein said in a statement. “These men were given sentences that some individuals who are convicted of murder wouldn’t receive.” Leahy’s office did not return WND’s call for comment.

Why are Mexican officials more concerned about prosecuting Americans (i.e. the Ramos-Compean prosecution) than preventing their citizens from crossing over the border into the United States? This is particularly curious considering Mexico’s own stance on lawbreakers illegally entering their country–admirably strict. If only the Bush administration were as diligent as Mexico concerning illegal immigration.

But alas, we have a broken immigration and enforcement system and an impotent presidency that really should transfer illegal alien and border policing from the federal level to the local level. Considering California is eating millions of dollars worth of state money to house criminal aliens in our state and city prisons with no federal payback funds planned in order to reimburse the cost to accommodate those illegals, it’s an outrage that this state cannot deal with the out-of-control illegal immigration problem ourselves while refraining from demonizing border agents doing the jobs they were hired to perform (I’m looking at you Texas.)

Apparently Mexico has a nice tight hold on the ear of U.S. Prosecutor extreme, Johnny Sutton, particularly in the Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean case, but evidently in other cases involving American law enforcement officials as well. It’s obvious Sutton is an agent of Bush, but is he also an agent of the Mexican government?

The Mexican Consulate played a previously undisclosed role in the events leading to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton’s high-profile prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving 11 and 12 year sentences for their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler, according to documents obtained by WND.

And Mexican consular officials also demanded the prosecution of Texas Sheriff’s Deputy Guillermo “Gilmer” Hernandez, who subsequently was brought to trial by Sutton, the documents reveal.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas – among a number of congressman who have fiercely opposed the prosecution of Ramos and Compean – told WND he has “long suspected that Mexican government officials ordered the prosecution of our law enforcement agents.”

“Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected, and we now have confirmation of it in writing,” Culberson said.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally outraged.

“The Mexican government should do more to keep illegals from Mexico from crossing into the United States, especially drug dealers, rather than be concerned about our border agents,” he told WND. “The U.S. Justice Department should not be working for the Mexican government.”

The White House and Sutton’s office in El Paso, Texas, did not respond to calls from WND asking for comment.

Hernandez’s attorney Jimmy Parks of San Antonio, Texas, told WND the documents “prove that it is wrong for my client to be in jail.”

“The prosecution of my client sends a wrong message to criminal illegal immigrants who are being tempted to cross our borders with impunity,” he said.

Mexico intervenes

WND has obtained a copy of a letter written April 18, 2005, by Mexican Consul Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes in Eagle Pass, Texas, demanding Hernandez be prosecuted for injuring a Mexican national, Marciela Rodriguez Garcia.

The first two paragraphs of the letter set out the facts of the case as understood by the Mexican consul. The letter is reproduced here as written:

I am addressing to you, regarding the case of the Mexican national, Ms. MARICELA RODRIGUEZ GARCIA (DOB 4-11-1979), who based on the information obtained by this Consulate, received a gunshot wound by an agent of the Sheriff Department of Edward County, that caused injuries in her face. As far aw we know, last April 15, 2005, the Mexican national was transported in first insistence to Val Verde Hospital in Del Rio, Tx, and then to San Antonio, Tx., where she was attended at the University Hospital. Today, Mr. Gabriel Salas a member of the staff of this office had the opportunity of interviewed Ms. RODRIGUEZ who confirms the facts of the incident.

The final two paragraphs contain the demands of the Mexican consul:

Based on the Consular Convention between Mexico and the United States and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Consulate of Mexico is entitled to represent, protect and defend the rights of Mexican nationals in this country. Therefore, I would like to point out, that is the care of my Country that this kind of incidents against our nationals, do not remain unpunished. According to the information provided above, I would appreciate your kind assistance, so this Consulate can be informed of the current investigation, and your support, so you present and file a complaint with the necessaries arraignments.

WND has learned the Mexican consul addressed separate copies of the letter to the following parties:

WND also has learned that on April 29, 2005, Sheriff Lettsinger in Edwards County advised that the Texas Rangers met with the district attorney in Del Rio and was told the state of Texas had been removed from the Hernandez case because the FBI and the federal government were taking over.

The Mexican national Rodriguez was in a Chevrolet Suburban van full of illegals that attempted to run over Hernandez after he had stopped the vehicle for running a stop sign April 14, 2005, in Rocksprings, Texas. Firing his weapon at the rear tires, a bullet fragment hit Rodriguez in the mouth, cutting her lip and breaking two teeth.

In the case of agents Ramos and Compean, WND has obtained notes made by a congressional staff member who attended the Sept. 26, 2006, meeting with three investigators from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s office.

The staff member’s notes indicate the Inspector General’s office briefed the congressmen that the Mexican consul had also intervened in the Ramos and Compean case.

According to the notes obtained by WND, the congressmen were told:

Several weeks later (after the February 17, 2005 event near Fabens, Texas), the Mexican Consulate contacted the U.S. Consulate in Mexico saying that they have a person who claims to have been shot by a Border Patrol agent. On March 4, 2005, the U.S. Consulate contacted the U.S. attorney.

DHS investigative reports filed by Special Agent Christopher Sanchez document that March 4, 2005, is the date on which DHS initiated the Ramos-Compean investigation.

WND can find no evidence the Border Patrol, DHS, or U.S. Attorney Sutton had started any investigation of Ramos or Compean concerning the events of Feb. 17, 2005, prior to March 4, 2005.

‘Dictating’ policy

“The Mexican government should not be dictating United States border policy,” Poe told WND after learning of the Mexican consul’s involvement in both cases.

Culberson agreed.

“We have it in writing,” he told WND, “a letter from the Mexican Consulate in the case of the deputy sheriff from Edwards County and verbal confirmation of the Mexican Consulate’s complaint in the case of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean.”

Culberson told WND it is “outrageous and unacceptable that our government is prosecuting U.S. law enforcement officials at the request of the Mexican government.”

The congressman said the revelations suggest national security may be at risk:

“U.S. national security interests in the war on terror must determine how we protect our border, not the opinions of the Mexican government,” he said.

Culberson called for a congressional investigation, telling WND, “We’ve now got to find out how many other Mexican government complaints have led to the prosecutions of our law enforcement officers on the border, and this intimidation must stop.”

Previous accounts in question

Sutton’s claim he learned about the identity of the drug smuggler in the Ramos-Compean case, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, through consular contacts originating in Mexico apparently contradicts his explanation in an exclusive interview with WND Jan. 19, Sutton said his office learned the identity of Aldrete-Davila from a lawyer in Mexico representing the drug smuggler.

WND: So, Aldrete-Davila ran away, and as you say, at the time you didn’t have any basis to know who he was and there were no fingerprints. But yet, you found the guy. If you found the guy to give him immunity, why couldn’t you have found the guy to punish him? SUTTON: The way we found him is that he came forward and was in Mexico with a lawyer. So, the only way to get him to testify was to give him immunity from being prosecuted. He wasn’t going to agree to come to the United States, he wasn’t going to agree to talk, unless he had some kind of immunity from being prosecuted for that load. So, that puts the prosecutor in the terrible choice of everyone goes free, we got no case against the dope dealer, we cannot make a case against the dope dealer because there’s no evidence, thanks to agents and other factors.

Sutton’s account also appears to contradict the March 14, 2005, memo from Special Agent Christopher Sanchez which claimed the government learned Aldrete-Davila’s identity from Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez in Willcox, Ariz.

As WND reported, Christopher Sanchez’s memo had claimed Rene Sanchez and Aldrete-Davila grew up together in Mexico. Rene Sanchez, the memo said, learned Aldrete-Davila was the drug smuggler involved in the incident with agents Ramos and Compean after his mother-in-law had a phone call with Aldrete-Davila’s mother in Mexico.

The memo also indicates the shooting was reported to the Mexican Consulate.

Rene Sanchez said that his mother-in-law Gregoria Toquinto went to Mexico to help her friend Marcadia take her son Osbaldo to the Mexican Consulate to report the shooting incident. However, Osbaldo declined to go. Marcadia advised Toquinto that Osbaldo did not want to report the incident, because he had actually been transporting a load of marijuana and was afraid the Mexican and/or U.S. authorities would put him in jail.

Redman was one of three DHS investigators who attended the Sept. 26, 2006, meeting with the four Texas Republican congressman. The other two investigators were identified to WND as Tamara Faulkner and James Taylor.

As WND reported, DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner admitted under oath Feb. 6 that Redman and the other investigators had misled the Texas congressmen. Skinner was responding to questioning by Culberson before the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

Skinner admitted, contrary to previous claims, DHS did not have investigative reports that would prove Ramos and Compean were rogue Border Patrol agents who told investigators they were “out to shoot some Mexicans” the day of the incident with Aldrete-Davila.

Culberson since has called for the resignation of the investigators.

Ramos-Compean trial

The Mexican consul’s role in revealing the identity of Aldrete-Davila also conflicts with prosecutor Debra Kanof’s opening statement to the jury in the Ramos-Compean trial.

According to a copy of the statement obtained by WND, Kanof explained the following to the jury Feb. 21, 2006:

Rene Sanchez is stationed in Willcox, Arizona. He’s actually from El Paso. And sometime in the last couple of days of February he got a phone call from his mother-in-law. And his mother-in-law lives in Mexico, in a little town on the outskirts of Juarez. And she told him that she had been talking to a friend of hers, a girlfriend of hers, and that that girlfriend had told her that her son, the girlfriend’s son, had been shot in back by a Border Patrol agent outside of El Paso, Texas, somewhere near San Elizario.

From there, Kanof explained how Rene Sanchez investigated.

So Rene Sanchez investigated. He made some phone calls to people he knew in El Paso and asked if there was a shooting. First he needed to find out, however, when that occurred and approximately where it occurred. So he immediately reported it to his supervisor in Willcox, Arizona, who told him to get more information, which he did by calling his mother-in-law. And he instructed his mother-in-law to take a cell phone – his mother-in-law actually lives in El Paso – to take a cell phone to Mexico, give that cell phone to the individual who was shot, and have them call me, so I can get some facts. And that, he did.

The individual who shot is an individual by the name of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. And Rene Sanchez spoke with him on the phone, and he gave him information about what occurred that day.

Kanof said nothing to the jury suggesting the information about Aldrete-Davila actually came from the Mexican consul, who contacted the American Consulate in Mexico, who in turn contacted DHS and prosecutor Sutton’s office.

While Ramos and Compean are in federal prison, Aldrete-Davila has found an American lawyer and plans to sue the Border Patrol for $5 million for allegedly violating his civil rights.

WND previously reported that at that meeting the DHS Inspector General’s office asserted it had documentary evidence Ramos and Compean:

confessed to knowingly shooting at an unarmed suspect;

stated during the interrogation they did not believe the suspect was a threat to them at the time of the shooting;

stated that day they “wanted to shoot a Mexican”;

were belligerent to investigators;

destroyed evidence and lied to investigators.

Under questioning by Culberson, Skinner admitted DHS did not in fact have investigative reports to back up the claims: “The person who told you that misinformed you,” Skinner reportedly replied.

This certainly explains quite a bit. The above admission by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, Richard Skinner confirms what many have suspected for sometime now–the government has been conspiring to cover up and bury their inappropriate and criminal actions in regards to their malicious prosecution of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Johnny Sutton, Debra Kanof, Richard Skinner, Alberto Gonzales, and George Bush, to name a few, are all abject con artists and despicable examples of human beings. They didn’t simply lie to protect their own asses. They lied in order to send two good men to jail–men who had only done as they were trained to do by the federal government and the border patrol. How long does this trail of lies extend? How many more deceptions and untruths yet remain tucked away in order to protect reputations of dishonorable people who have no shame?

Additionally, we now know for certain there were several accompanying border agents, including two supervisors, near the altercation that occurred between Ramos, Compean, and the illegal alien drug smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrette-Davila. According to the firearms policy for border patrol personnel agents are not required to file written reports concerning a shooting incident. As reported in a previous post, border agents must offer only an oral report to a supervisor after the fact. Ramos and Compean did as they were trained, providing an oral report to not one, but two attending supervisors.

Oscar Garcia, El Paso Border Patrol Union representative with Local 1929 and a firearms instructor, said that the Report of Apprehension or Seizure filed by Compean and Ramos on the day of the incident was accurate. Garcia stated that the agent’s omission of the shooting in the drug seizure report followed firearms policy.

“Our own policy prohibits them from filing any report on the shooting incident,” Garcia said. “The U.S. Attorney’s assertion that they covered up the incident by not filing a report is ridiculous.”

Ridiculous indeed. Yet Sutton, with whom I’ve have previously compared to an annoying parrot, has screeched ad infinitum over the last couple of months that the central reason for prosecuting and ultimately sentencing Ramos and Compean to federal prison was a result of the former border agents filing false paperwork and their attempt to willingly conceal evidence of their supposed crime–the shooting of illegal alien drug smuggler, Davila.

From a 2005 memo written by inspector, David Sanchez of the DHS Inspector Generals office…

“Investigation disclosed that the following Border Patrol agents were at the location of the shooting incident, assisted in destroying evidence of the shooting, and or knew/heard about the shooting: Oscar Juarez, Arturo Vasquez, Jose Mendoza, David Jaquez, Lance Medrano, Lorenzo Yrigoyen, Rene Mendez, Robert Arnold, and Jonathan Richards,” Sanchez wrote.

Furthermore…

Arnold and Richards were the two supervisors on the scene that day.

Richards was given a promotion shortly after the incident and testified against the agents. Agents Vasquez, Juarez and Jaquez were given immunity from prosecution to testify against Ramos and Compean.

If I didn’t know better, or I thought the best in people (God forbid), I would strongly suspect Richards had been awarded his promotion as a coercive tactic by the prosecution in order to give him a bit more incentive to testify against Ramos and Compean. Unfortunately, mostly due to the policies of the current Presidency and the deceptive actions cheerfully employed by U.S. attorney Johnny Sutton and his staff of cockroaches in the railroading case against the two former border agents, I do not think the best of people right now.

I can only hope the political prisoners Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean will see their freedom soon as a result of these obviously obfuscatory and underhanded machinations by the United States government.

Once again, diligent and tireless journalists Jerome Corsi and Sara A. Carter should be commended for their efforts in this matter.

A Department of Homeland Security official admitted today the agency misled Congress when it contended it possessed investigative reports proving Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean confessed guilt and declared they “wanted to shoot some Mexicans” prior to the incident that led to their imprisonment. The admission came during the testimony of DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner before the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, according to Michael Green, press secretary for Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.

Culberson was questioning Skinner about a meeting DHS officials had Sept. 26 with him and three other Republican congressman from Texas, Reps. Ted Poe, Michael McCaul and Kenny Marchant.

WND previously reported that at that meeting the DHS Inspector General’s office asserted it had documentary evidence Ramos and Compean:

confessed to knowingly shooting at an unarmed suspect;

stated during the interrogation they did not believe the suspect was a threat to them at the time of the shooting;

stated that day they “wanted to shoot a Mexican”;

were belligerent to investigators;

destroyed evidence and lied to investigators.

Under questioning by Culberson, Skinner admitted DHS did not in fact have investigative reports to back up the claims: “The person who told you that misinformed you,” Skinner reportedly replied.

This prompted a startled and angry response from Culberson, who charged Skinner’s office with lying to the Texas congressmen and painting Ramos and Compean as dirty cops.

Responding to Skinner’s testimony yesterday, Poe said it “explains why DHS has been stonewalling Congress.”

“DHS didn’t turn over the reports to us to back up their September 26 accusations for one simple reason – the reports never existed,” the Texas congressman said.

“Why did it take DHS four months to admit their error?” he asked. “I wonder how much more has DHS told the public and Congress about Ramos and Compean that simply isn’t true?”

Poe said he’s determined to get to the bottom of DHS’s claim.

“I expect this new revelation will lead to a lot more questions before we’re done,” he said.

Andy Ramirez, who has been involved with the case as chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, told WND the DHS’s actions “represent obstruction of justice, and they should be held in contempt of Congress, and, if possible, prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

“This admission today is yet more proof of how they are willing to distort the facts, as I have charged all along, in order to ensure a conviction,” he said.

Two convicted former El Paso Border Patrol agents accused by the U.S. Attorney of not filing a report when they shot a Mexican drug smuggler were prohibited by their own agency’s firearms policy from doing so, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.

Meanwhile, the government made public Monday its response to Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos’ October motion to reduce his sentence.

The response contends that Ramos and fellow agent Jose Alonso Compean knowingly shot an unarmed suspect, filed a false report, and that supervisors were not notified.

Attached to the motion were domestic violence arrest reports regarding three disputes Ramos had with his wife, Monica. Those documents were not admissible during the agents’ trial. Ramos was not charged with a crime stemming from the incidents.

Ramos and Compean were convicted last spring for shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a Mexican drug smuggler, in the buttocks on Feb. 17, 2005. The agents are now serving 11 and 12 years, respectively, in federal prison.

The agents were convicted partly due to the government’s successful argument at trial that the two men failed to file a report about the shooting.But U.S. Border Patrol firearms policy specifically states that agents are prohibited from filing a report if a shooting incident takes place and that only an oral report to supervisors is required.

“Ensure that supervisory personnel or INS investigating officers are aware that employees involved in a shooting incident shall not be required or allowed to submit a written statement of the circumstances surrounding the incident,” according to the firearms policy.

“All written statements regarding the incident shall be prepared by the local INS investigating officers and shall be based upon an interview of the INS employee.”

INS refers to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which oversaw the Border Patrol prior to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The shooting policy has remained unchanged.

Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General documents obtained by the paper show that all nine agents on the scene at the time of the shooting – including two supervisors – knew shots had been fired.

Oscar Garcia, El Paso Border Patrol Union representative with Local 1929 and a firearms instructor, said that the Report of Apprehension or Seizure filed by Compean and Ramos on the day of the incident was accurate. Garcia stated that the agent’s omission of the shooting in the drug seizure report followed firearms policy.

“Our own policy prohibits them from filing any report on the shooting incident,” Garcia said. “The U.S. Attorney’s assertion that they covered up the incident by not filing a report is ridiculous.”

Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney for western Texas whose office prosecuted the case against the agents, contends the agents didn’t report the shooting to supervisors who arrived on scene and knowingly lied about the incident.

“Ramos did not mention the shooting, and said nothing about the suspect having a weapon,” Sutton said in an Aug. 11 press release.

Sutton was not immediately available for comment on Monday.

Both agents, however, told the Daily Bulletin the other agents and supervisors on the scene that day knew about the shooting, an assertion echoed in a Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General memorandum written March 12, 2005, by Christopher Sanchez, an investigator with the Office of Inspector General.

“Investigation disclosed that the following Border Patrol agents were at the location of the shooting incident, assisted in destroying evidence of the shooting, and or knew/heard about the shooting: Oscar Juarez, Arturo Vasquez, Jose Mendoza, David Jaquez, Lance Medrano, Lorenzo Yrigoyen, Rene Mendez, Robert Arnold, and Jonathan Richards,” Sanchez wrote.

Arnold and Richards were the two supervisors on the scene that day.

Richards was given a promotion shortly after the incident and testified against the agents. Agents Vasquez, Juarez and Jaquez were given immunity from prosecution to testify against Ramos and Compean.

The prosecution’s objection to Ramos’ motion to reduce his sentence, which was released Monday, goes against what was reported by the Office of Inspector General and contends the two former agents covered up the shooting on their own.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof, who prosecuted the agents and wrote the motion, some of the least credible evidence was when Ramos and Compean walked away from the scene.

“Instead of fulfilling (Ramos’) duties as an agent and as a member of the response team, he walked side by side with Compean, who according to Compean’s own testimony, bent down at least nine times to pick up his own spent casings.”

Kanof also states in her response that Ramos never mentioned until the trial that he thought his life or Compean’s was in danger, or that they thought the smuggler had a gun.

Ramos chose not to speak to investigators until his attorney was present, he told the Daily Bulletin. Compean, however, did wave his right to counsel and discussed the incident with investigators from the Office of Inspector General.

Contrary to Kanof’s statement, several memorandums written by Sanchez, the investigating officer, attest that Compean believed his life was in danger.

“Compean said that he began to shoot at Aldrete-Davila because of the shiny object he thought he saw in Aldrete-Davila’s left hand … Compean explained that he thought that the shiny object might be a gun and that Aldrete-Davila was going to shoot him because he kept looking back at him as he ran away.”

How the above people can sleep soundly defies my reasoning. Perhaps they don’t. Perhaps they fitfully dream in nightmares, their subconscious and their conscience sullied with the crimes they’ve willfully, aggressively, and callously committed against the two men, former border patrol agents Ramos and Jose Compean, for simply doing what the federal government tasked them with when they made them watchmen along our southern border–doing their jobs.

Now Ignacio has taken a beating in prison, likely from illegals, bent on revenge against any official who might have been responsible directly or indirectly for their current predicament, after the inmates had witnessed a television program about the plight of the former agents. Of course, assuming the assailants were illegal aliens is pure speculation on my part, but this is a blog with my thoughts and ideas. No court of law here to contest what I say and write.

As Jose and Ignacio were condemned unjustly, I condemn justly the aforementioned criminals–not just the illegal aliens, but Bush, Cardone, Sutton, et. al. This is blood on their hands. If anything untoward happens to these men, they will have more than blood–shame, guilt, regret.

If only it was so, then perhaps Ignacio and Jose would have already been released. But no conscience exists within the Bush administration. I am disgusted with our government.

Monica Ramos embraces her husband, former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos, two days before he was sentenced to 11 years in prison (Courtesy El Paso Times)

In interviews with WND tonight, both Ramos’s wife Monica and father-in-law Joe Loya confirmed that Ramos says he was assaulted in prison on Saturday night by a group of five Hispanic inmates who Ramos took to be illegal immigrants.

In a phone call from prison, Ramos told his wife earlier today that the assailants allegedly threatened him in Spanish, taunting him with, “**** la migra,” insulting him – “migra” roughly translating as “immigration,” slang for Border Patrol agent.

Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean began prison sentences last month, of 11 and 12 years respectively, for their actions in the shooting and wounding of a Mexican drug smuggler who was granted full immunity to testify against them. The case has caused national outrage, and dozens of congressmen are publicly insisting President Bush grant an immediate pardon of the two law enforcement officers.

Ramos’s family feels that the decision to place him in a medium security prison violates a promise from federal authorities Ramos would be kept in isolation at a minimal security prison.

At Yazoo, Ramos was housed with the general prison population. A medium security prison such as Yazoo would be expected to house illegal immigrants, including those incarcerated on drug offenses.

The prison attack came immediately after the airing Saturday night of a segment on Ramos and Compean by the “America’s Most Wanted” television show.

“On Saturday night my husband said he went to bed,” Monica Ramos told WND late today.

She recounted the telephone call from her husband in prison earlier in the day: “He just told me that he dropped his guard. ‘They got me,’ Nacio told me, ‘they got me pretty good.'”

“‘What happened?'” Monica Ramos said she asked her husband. “He told me they were in the television room watching ‘America’s Most Wanted.’ After that, some time after 10 p.m., he went back to his cubicle and was almost falling asleep. He awoke to the sound of shoes stomping. It startled him because at night the prisoners are supposed to take their shoes off and put flip-flops on.”

She continued: “He said he didn’t have a chance to turn around and look at any of the guys attacking him at that time. He just felt a blow to the back of his head. The prisoners were kicking him with steel-toe shoes, the work boots they are issued in prison. They kept kicking and kicking. And they kept calling him in Spanish a **** immigration officer, saying ‘darle, darle,’ which means, ‘give it to him.’ They were cussing him out in Spanish. He couldn’t fight back he was outnumbered.”

According to Loya, Ramos also said of the attack: “They kicked me in the head, they kicked me all over the body. I’m all bruised and very sore.”

How did the attack stop?

“No security came to his rescue,” the jailed Border Patrol agent’s wife told WND. “Another inmate came and got Ramos and said ‘Hey, dude, let me help you up.’ The other inmate walked my husband over to security.”

Did the prison give him any medical treatment?

“As of the time we talked this afternoon, the prison still hadn’t given him any medical treatment,” she said, adding that he told her, “‘I asked all day yesterday.’ I’m in a lot of pain and I have blood coming out of my left ear.’

“His head and his back are hurting him badly. He said it was almost time for the prison doctor to go for the day and he wasn’t sure when any doctor would be able to see him.”

Ramos told his wife he was able to identify only one of the five assailants: “They all cursed me in Spanish,” he said, according to Loya. “As they were beating me up and kicking me, they kept calling me ‘migra,’ ‘migra.’ I’m pretty sure they were all illegal immigrants.”

Ramos told his wife that he was badly bruised and bleeding from the ears. He said that immediately after the attack, he was placed back into solitary confinement, where he has been for the last two days.

“He told me that he asked to call me Sunday, after the attack,” Monica Ramos continued, “but the prison wouldn’t let him call me and they wouldn’t let him call his attorney. He said the only reason the prison was letting him call now, on Monday, was because the Congress intervened, otherwise he wouldn’t have been permitted any calls at all.”

Patti Compean, wife of imprisoned agent Jose Compean, told WND her husband was in a different prison, still in solitary confinement.

Today is Ramos’ 38th birthday. According to Loya, Ramos’s three sons, aged 7, 9 and 13, woke up crying, not wanting to go to school. The children wanted to buy a cake and wait for their father to call so they could sing “Happy Birthday” to him on the phone and blow out the candles.

Early this morning, Loya began working with the office of U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R.-Calif., to see if the warden would give Ramos special permission to call home on his birthday, after his children got home from school.

However, the birthday call didn’t happen, Monica Ramos told WND.

“We went out and bought a cake,” she said. “The kids came home expecting their dad to call from prison so they could wish him a happy birthday. But there isn’t going to be any call. My 7-year-old, when he woke up this morning, the first thing he asked was if we could still celebrate today. I told him, ‘Sure we can, baby,’ and he’s been looking forward to it all day.”

However, Monica added, in tears: “He told me, ‘They’re not going to let me call later today.’ He said the call in the afternoon only happened because Congress allowed it to happen. He said he doesn’t have any privileges in prison. He hasn’t even gotten the mail that everybody has been sending him. He told me, ‘You really need to get me out of here.’ That’s what he told me last.”

Johnny Sutton must be defecating in his britches right about now. It’s quite revealing when his office won’t return calls to address issues brought up in the story below by the indefatigable Jerome Corsi through World Net Daily. I’m sure Sutton and his staff are stuffed into a conference room, drinking bad coffee and conducting major damage control operations.

Andy Ramirez, who has closely followed the case as chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, said he was disturbed that evidence in the van was handled by a combination of local, sheriff and federal law enforcement officers.

“From the scene, the vehicle is towed to the El Paso sheriff’s office,” Ramirez noted. “Then, the Border Patrol turns over the fingerprints to the El Paso Police Department for processing. DHS is involved, but only to receive a copy of the videotape made of the fingerprint processing. These law enforcement procedures are highly irregular, especially in the emotionally charged areas of border security and drug enforcement.”

From the beginning, Ramirez, insisted, “Johnny Sutton’s only interest in this case was to prosecute Ramos and Compean.”

“If Sutton wanted to capture the drug dealer, the van would have been secured, the van and its contents would have been dusted immediately for fingerprints and the chain of evidence would have been established,” he said. “Instead, the van sat there in the El Paso sheriff’s office for nearly a month before any law enforcement looks for evidence of the drug crime.”

Ramirez wondered why the FBI or the Drug Enforcement Administration was not called in immediately on the case.

“Instead, when the prosecutors finally get around to looking for fingerprint evidence, who knows how corrupted the fingerprint evidence is going to be after a month?”

A frustrated Ramirez contended Sutton was not interested in evidence from the van, because he was never out to get the drug smuggler.

“Since the fingerprint evidence would not implicate the agents, Sutton couldn’t have cared less if there was any fingerprint evidence or not,” Ramirez said. “If the fingerprint evidence could have implicated Ramos and Compean, Sutton would have been after the fingerprints with a vengeance.”

The DHS memorandum of activity was filed by Special Agent Jose L. Arredbado, March 20, 2005. The memo documents that March 17, 2005, special agent Arredbado received a copy of the vehicle towing receipt from the El Paso sheriff’s office where the vehicle had been towed from the Fabens, Texas, Border Patrol Station.

The memo indicates that March 17, 2005, Arredbado authorized the U.S. Border Patrol Evidence Team to enter the compound and dust the vehicle for fingerprints. The team found 11 fingerprints, three of which were duplicates. The prints were taken to the El Paso Police Department for processing, with an agreement to turn the findings and report over to the DHS Office of Inspector General upon completion.

A towing receipt obtained by WND shows the vehicle Aldrete-Davila drove was a silver 1989 Ford Econoline with Texas plates that was taken to the Fabens, Texas, Border Patrol Station, Feb. 18, 2005, the day after the incident with Aldrete-Davila that has led to the imprisonment of Ramos and Compean.

The towing receipt indicates the Ford Econoline remained at the Alba Wrecker Service in El Paso for 18 days, until March 7, 2005. The DHS report indicates Alba transported the vehicle to the El Paso sheriff’s vehicle compound March 10, 2005, a discrepancy with the March 7, 2005, date noted on the Alba towing receipt.

The towing receipt indicates the bill went to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Crossed out is an initial designation that indicates the bill was originally intended to go to the Border Patrol.

John Godinez, assistant to Mary Stillinger, the defense counsel for Ignacio Ramos, told WND his office was aware there were some fingerprints found on the van, but the defense had not pursued the issue. Mr. Godinez affirmed that during the Ramos-Compean trial, the prosecution did not introduce into evidence the fingerprints or any of the documentary evidence regarding the fingerprints. Proving that the van was driven by Aldrete-Davila was never in contention in the trial after the prosecution gave the drug smuggler immunity to testify.

In his Jan. 19 exclusive interview with WND, prosecutor Sutton strongly maintained there was nothing at the crime scene that would have permitted him to identify and pursue the fleeing Mexican drug smuggler.

WND: So, Aldrete-Davila ran away, and as you say, at the time you didn’t have any basis to know who he was and there were no fingerprints. But yet, you found the guy. If you found the guy to give him immunity, why couldn’t you have found the guy to punish him? Sutton: The way we found him is that he came forward and was in Mexico with a lawyer. So, the only way to get him to testify was to give him immunity from being prosecuted. He wasn’t going to agree to come to the United States, he wasn’t going to agree to talk, unless he had some kind of immunity from being prosecuted for that load. So, that puts the prosecutor in the terrible choice of everyone goes free, we got no case against the dope dealer, we cannot make a case against the dope dealer because there’s no evidence thanks to agents and other factors.

As we WND previously reported, Sutton stated a Mexican lawyer brought Aldrete-Davila forward, without revealing the drug smuggler’s identity, until immunity had been granted. However, WND can find no documentation any such Mexican lawyer was involved.

DHS investigative memos make clear that Border Patrol agent Rene Sanchez in Wilcox, Ariz., identified Aldrete-Davila only days after the Feb. 17, 2005 incident, obtaining his information through family connections. Sanchez grew up with Aldrete-Davila in Mexico.

The information about Aldrete-Davila’s identity was then passed on by Sanchez to DHS special agent Christopher Sanchez, who went to Mexico and found Aldrete-Davila.

This Christopher Sanchez is the same DHS special agent the DHS memo on the fingerprints says received the videotape of the El Paso Police Department fingerprint search on the drug smuggler’s abandoned vehicle.